Geek Towers - Center Route is awesome and did it with I forgot who the first time.

Once a couple of years later went to free solo it in Feb. one winter. But the off-width was wet.

I found a number 10 hex at the base that day and brought it with me just in case I needed to bail somewhere. Hah, it fit right in at the OW pitch where it was wet. I had dragged two 7mm ropes with me for the descent.

1. its frick'n hot up there in the pm.
2. to get to the real "base" you need to skirt an improbable traverse to the left. It looks like it gets cliffed out?? but no.
you end up on a huge flat and some what wet ledge(depending on the wind) and your right at the edge of a beautiful cliff and the falls.
3. the OW looks overhanging and wide. I would definatly bring some extra tat as the raps down the other routes are probally scetchy at best.

I'd say that the 5.9 rating is a total sandbag. in looking at it its stout.

We got such a late start and it was bacon up there that we didn't do the route. Just to get to the base was......interesting.

Werner- #10 mana from heaven! Just for you. What is the story with the crux pitch on Freestone? Says 5.11d ow/fist. Any recollections or stories assuming that you've done that one? With all the love for the wide, this one seems to have been left out of the discussion along with Fallout.

The crux pitch on freestone is probably over rated. When Dale lead the thing on the first ascent he straight in fist jammed the upper part. Everyone lay-backs the thing there after (easier).

It's still an intimating looking pitch that I've lead on 12 different ascents. Each time I've gotten there I was still scared of the thing.

As for the #10 hex that I found, yeah that was strange how that ended up working. I could have easily down climbed back to the belay on that pitch. The #10 hex just made life a whole lot easier at that point.

Edit: I did the route once with Gib Lewis and one of Bridewell's rap route bolts broke on him while he was descending. I had backed the bolt up with some slings around a block before he took off (for just in case purposes).

When the bolt snapped Gibb yelled up and asked what happened. I told him the bolt broke and it's your lucky day.

Bump the tread with the question: For those who climbed Geek Tower in May-June:
Is there big probability that route be wet due to wind from Waterfall toward the Geek Tower route during the day?
Is there any pastern of wind similar for Horsetail fall? I meant wind with almost constant direction from west to east which making E .Buttress of El Cap wet during the day in april-june?
BTW, nutjob did you enjoy the route?

Center Route is a fun outing. From the base, due to foreshortening it looks overly vegetated and harder than it really is. The climbing is consistently 5.8 - 5.9 with a few easy 5.10 sections, and has a lot of variety and pretty good rock. Fun stuff. The bushes hardly matter.

I did the center route in June 05 which was a big snow year and never got wet at all.
Needless to say the location is stunning and other than the first 5.9 pitch having a wet slimy section with a few bushes the climbing is good and has a seldom done feeling to it. Count on having to leave a tied sling at all the raps.

Werner, you callin' me immortal, bitch? Cause i climbed freestone? I'm
Just a mIddle aged school teacher from the Midwest with a portfolio of weird climbs, jostling to be reborn as the urinal next to russ

Ha ha, thanks Alexey and Jay for resurfacing this! I had wanted to make a trip report of our (my and Jay's) adventure as part of another report when I got around to reaching the top! I went back once, and we bailed because of ice sheets falling onto the route. Still need to get back there, hopefully this summer.

But here are my pics from our adventure:

General conditions in Feb 2010:

We solo'd up Sunnyside Bench with a pretty casual 8-8:30am start...

Had some excitement on the final bit of the approach; I tried the high road, which involved punching fists into steep snow with a creek flowing directly beneath. I retreated back to Jay's way:

The crew:

Ice in LA Chimney:

Jay gettin' it done on the first pitch, with an interesting step-across with suboptimal pro at the end:

I think this was looking down on P2, with some bushy mess out of sight below this chimney:

Maybe Jay needs Da Brim for his next birthday:

Jay gettin' to the money:

This pitch was AWESOME! I can't wait to go back and do it again:

You can't tell but there is a solid hand jam buried underneath the thickest green part:

After I wiped my hand on my pants, this is what it looked like:

I did manage to get it cleaned up a bit more, but trying to jam later in the pitch from awkward positions, with that slippery stuff interfering, was definitely the crux.

Grunting along some time later:

Happy as a clam!

Cracked piton belay not inspiring, so we backed it up before rapping:

But first we enjoyed some glorious views:

A good day, but a short day because of the season, and we opted for the non-epic daylight descent.